


When Will Emma's Life Begin

by Name7



Category: Tangled (2010), The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Horror, Musicals, Romance, Tragedy/Comedy, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25746406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Name7/pseuds/Name7
Summary: Emma is locked up in a tower, wishing that she could let her go see the world. Her adoptive father, Henry, wouldn't let her, for the musical healing magic of her hair is too precious to put in danger. But everything changes when a certain guy who does not like musicals happens to find the tower, and the princess inside.
Relationships: Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 15
Kudos: 26





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fanfic here, I hope you enjoy it! This is based on a series of ideas I've had with @atty-goldstein on Tumblr, so the credit is only half my own.

_Once upon a time, there was a young man, who wanted to know how the world around him worked, so he was trying to study every thing of nature that he had come across._

_One night, while the man was resting on the grass outside his living place, and admiring the beauty of the night sky, rain began to fall. The reasonable thing for the man to do was going to shelter, but something in his soul told him to stay. Not long after that, lightning struck, and a sudden sound of explosion and crashing was heard. It came with a blast so massive, that it caused the man to fall on his back-_

"Do you mean on his butt?" A young girl teased, sitting straight on a chair in front of a warm fireplace as a silver-haired man is brushing her long hair and telling her the story.

_Maybe. Amazed and curious, the man approached the location of the landing. Through the screen of raindrops, the man saw a hole in the ground, shaped like the inside of a bowl. The man slowly and carefully stepped toward the crater and into it, but stopped near the middle and gazed down through the rain, because there was an object the hole: it was a rock, but not an Earthly one: it was filled with holes, dark as the night, and glowing gentle blue._

"Cool." The girl commented and smiled.

_Yes, Emma, it was cool. That's why the man decided to take the rock with him to study it. He was convinced the rock dropped from beyond the skies and named it Starlight. After a few days, something miraculous happened: from within the holes of the Starlight rock, a flower grew and bloomed. The flower was_ _beautiful and Unique in its shape, but even more in its colors, for just like the rock, it was black with a blue glow. The man decided to move the starlight flower back to its crater, but came to visit it every day._

"who visits a flower?"

_It was for study purposes. One day, when the man was playing the lyre near the flower-_

"Wow, very study-ey."

_You will be surprised how much you can learn with music. Anyway, he noticed that the patterns of its glow changed along with the notes of music, like it was hearing the music, living, communicating! Excited with his new discovery, the man played other tunes and songs to the flower, with other instruments. He even made his own melodies- I bet you didn't know he was also a composer! In fact, the man even wrote his own song to the flower. When he was pleased with it, he came to the flower and sang to it, caressing the petals and breathing in the scent. The flower reacted in a way that it never did before: its usually soft glow was shining strong and bright blue and it released its pollen, a special pollen that absorbed in the man's skin, straightening every wrinkle, closing every cut and curing every pain, adding health, beauty and musical talent. It was a gift from the flower to the man, and it granted this gift only when hearing that song, not any other._

"I know that song!" Emma said excitedly.

_I know you know. Now, listen to the story! The years have passed, and both the man and the flower did not age nor die, for they were taking care of each other and living in harmony. Over the centuries, the flower and its ability to heal became legendary among the mortal humans, but the immortal man made sure to protect the starlight flowers from ones who wanted to abuse its power. For a long time, he succeeded in his mission, but one fateful night, he failed. A simple mortal man picked the flower and gave it to his weak wife to aid her in giving birth to his child. The flower was eaten and destroyed,_

"Gross! Why would she eat a flower?" Emma did a disgusted face.

_Some flowers are edible, like any other part of the plant, but this certain flower should not have been eaten, for there is no other flower like it. As for the mortal couple, a girl was born to them, touched upon an otherworld beauty, for her dark hair glowed blue in the light. Her simple parents did not appreciate her beauty and mistaken her gift as a curse. They started to get rid of her hair, but after the strand they cut turned brown and lost its energy, the parents got scared of the magic and left the baby girl in a forest._

_Luckily for her, the immortal man followed the track of the one who stole the flower, until he found the girl and taken her to his home to raise her as his own, putting her in a tower to protect her from the cruel, ignorant world._

"Is the man you?"

"Yes. And the girl is you," Henry Hidgens answered to the wide-eyed girl, "Now, please sing the song for me, my Starlight flower."

Hidgens stroke the long locks as Emma sang softly:

_Flower, gleam and glow/ Let your power shine_

_Alien and blue/ And yet so fair and fine_

_Let me hear your song/ Let us share a mind_

_Fix things that are wrong/ Bring back the life that died_

_The life that died_


	2. When Will Emma's Life Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actual first chapter, You get to know Emma as a fully grown-up lady, her pet and her step-father in a second introduction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, sorry for being late! Now you can finally read the first chapter! (prologue doesn't count. OR DOES IT?) My English is not perfect, because it's not my native language, If I have mistakes, please correct me so I can learn to write better! The song here is to the tune of When Will My Life Begin, except for the choruses and the final part, which are based on a tune that made sense in my head. Have fun reading!

Some years later, the sound of quick and loud footsteps was heard, as a small animal was chased by a human hunter. The small animal, a tiny brown male squirrel, ran as fast as he could on his four legs, racing from the floor to a wall to a railing by the stairs, scared to hear that his chaser was close behind, not even out of breath. The squirrel decided to leave the railing and go up the wall, toward the ceiling, where a big, clumsy human would not be able to reach for sure. Standing in place and looking back with relief, the squirrel saw to his dismay that the human climbed after him, using handles that were attached to the wall. The squirrel let out a chirp and started running again, higher, then lower. He spotted an opening, a window, and hurried toward it, jumped through it toward freedom… and was yanked back by a lasso made of dark hair.

"Gotcha sucker!" Emma called triumphantly and finally out of breath as she held the squirrel in her palms.

The squirrel turned back to her and squeaked angrily.

"Come on, Peanuts," Emma argued, "It was definitely fair to use my hair, because it also slows me down! This way it's balanced."

Peanuts squeaked again.

" **You're** bullcrap," Emma replied, trying to sound angry but smiling. "Have a better idea what to do?"

Peanuts turned to the opened window and gestured with his head toward the outside.

"Oh, this is not an option," Emma said. She placed Peanuts in her pocket. "We tried that, remember?" she turned away and moved out of the top room of the tower and down the stairs. "Before my eighteenth birthday and dozens of times after that. Father Hidgens caught me every time before I could even reach the grass down there."

Peanuts chirped.

"He did that because he cares," Emma explained, "He knows that I would meet nothing but unfun danger, because the outside world is full of shit."

As Emma walked out of the stairs and into her room, she looked down at Peanuts, who seemed unconvinced.

"Besides, there's a lot of stuff we can do here," she added, took a purple-painted guitar from a hanger and started playing it.

_Seven a.m., the usual morning fuck-chores_

She started to sing,

_Sweeping and moping and stuff 'till the floor's all clean_

_Laundry and shit, wash dishes until my arm sores_

_Dry 'em up, and oh crap it's just 7:15_

_So I'll eat fruits for breakfast_

_Read a book or three_

_And I'll draw penises over my gallery_

_I'll water weirdass plants_

_To have some potions free_

_But when will my life begin?_

_(When will Emma's life begin?)_

Peanuts repeated the first line of the chorus after her, singing in his high-pitched voice. When he spoke in his usual squeaks Emma had to guess what he means, but when she was singing Peanuts was singing in human words as well. Emma never bothered to question it.

_Just open the window, don't keep me locked in_

_(She wants to go out, but her fears always win)_

Peanuts added _._

_Would you tell me why touching the grass is a sin?_

_(When will Emma's life begin?)_

Peanuts finished the first chorus _._

_Then cooking lunch and eating and maybe drinking_

_Making all sorts of arts in explicit shapes_

_Playing with cards, some cookies and puzzle-linking_

_Then I’ll joke, maybe smoke_

_Take a nap, sew some capes!_

_So I’ll play more with Peanuts, guess it’s only fair_

_And then I'll work out hard so I can lift my hair_

_And then I'll clean and brush all of this fucking hair_

_I know it is not a real rhyme, chill_

_But when will my life begin?_

_(When will Emma’s life begin?)_

_Just open the window, don’t keep me locked in_

_(She fights to come out of her house and her skin)_

_Would you tell me why touching the grass is a sin?_

_(When will Emma’s life begin?)_

_It seems nice to be out there_

_Hear the birds, smell the air, feel the dew_

_And see those mysterious floating lights_

_They seem kinda neat too_

_But if I ask my father_

_And if I let him know_

_That I still want to see the world_

_Will he just let me go?_

“Yeah!” Emma finished and smiled at Peanuts, “Now let’s go an’ do all the crap I sang about.”

Emma was just with the chores listed in the first to fourth lines when she heard a familiar voice calling her: “Emma! Let down your hair!”

“Hold on a sec!” Emma answered as loud as she could and raced up the stairs toward the top room of the tower.

She threw a great part of her hair through a lever toward Hidgens, who was waiting patiently on the ground. Then she pulled her hair back up, dragging Henry Hidgens along with it.

He dropped off to the room.

“Morning greetings, Emma,” He said and placed his hand on his forehead, “You would simply not believe the troubles I encountered among the mortals in the outside world,” he removed the hand from his forehead. “Why, if I would have the option of staying locked in this safe tower, I would do it with no hesitation, Emma. I envy you.”

Emma fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Speaking of-“

“Oh,” Hidgens interrupted, causing Emma to close her mouth, “I would elaborate on said troubles, but I fear those are too grievous to be told.”

“This is not what-“ Emma started to say, but was interrupted again.

“For now, I only wish you will heal my wound and bring my youth,” he said and rolled up his left sleeve to reveal a long blue scratch.

Emma did roll her eyes this time. She took a strand of her hair and wrapped it around Hidgens’s arm.

“Flowergleamanglow/ Letyourpowershine, Alienandblue/ Anyetsofairanfine

Letmehearyoursong/ Letusshareamind, Fixingsthatarewrong/ Bringbackthelifethatdied,” she sang as fast as she could, causing a speck of strong blue light to race along her strand of hair. Once it reached Hidgens, his wound disappeared, his skin seemed cleaner and healthier and his hair looked like pure silver rather than simple gray. But he did not look happy.

“Emma!” he reproached. “Why would you intentionally rush such a magnificent ritual?”

Seeing his raged expression, Emma was taken aback, but she recovered quickly and wrapped more dark strands of her hair around Hidgens’s body. He tried to resist.

“Calm down, calm down, calm down,” Emma sang, closing her eyes. Blue specks of light flowed through her hair and around the body of Hidgens. He stopped struggling, his heartbeat slowed, and his mouth closed.

“I just wanted to ask you to take me out to see that floating lights thing,” Emma explained as she unraveled her hair.

“Oh, I will explain to you why this is a bad idea,” Hidgens replied with a calm smile, “Just let m get to the piano.”

“No no no no no,” Emma groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Turning Pascal into Peanuts and also a Chipmunks reference? It's more likely than you think. In case it wasn't clear, the (parenthese lines) are the ones Peanuts sings, the normal Italic ones are the ones Emma sings.   
> If you like the fic, be sure to subs- I mean, leave kudos and comments!


	3. Paul Rider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a break from the music, we now follow a certain guy who does not like musical and his little misadventure with a crown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I expected myself to add a chapter sooner too. But you know, *groaning*, life. Have fun now though!  
> Don't forget that English is not my native language, so I might have made mistakes and errors. Let me know so I can get better.

Paul walked carefully on the top of a castle. He probably walked too carefully because he felt a knife hurrying him up.

“Don’t hesitate,” said the theater- masked woman who held the knife, “He who hesitates gets stabbed.”  
With no more stops for deep breathing, Paul got quickly to the roof above a certain important room.  
The other masked woman opened the upper window that let light enter the room from above and the two women helped Paul down the room with a rope.  
Being hung in the air between the ceiling and the ground,  
the only thing that kept Paul from screaming with fear was knowing the two women will not hesitate before dropping him to the guards if he makes a sound.  
Said guards were all facing the other way, blissfully ignorant of the man hanging behind them.  
It was not hard for Paul to spot what he looked for: the tiara of the lost princess, resting on a pillow, on a pillar.  
_It does not necessarily take a thief_ , He thought sadly, _to recognize it worth a lot of money_ :  
It was clearly pure gold, decorated by some of the largest gemstones Paul have ever seen.  
Paul sighed inwardly and grabbed the crown and was yanked back up shortly after he did. He handed it to the woman who did not threaten to stab him, but she refused.

“Later, Mister,” she said, “We want the people to know you’re the one who stole it.”

“Now let’s run, baby!” the other woman cheered and the three of them hurried off the roof.  
As a contradiction to Paul’s hopes, the castle guards did notice them on their way out.

“It’s Paul Mathews!” they cried before starting to chase them.  
Knowing the guards soon will get their horses, the three sped up.  
Paul wanted to throw backward the crown he held but did not dare, he kept running forward, leading the way as if the other two were his henchwomen and not his imprisoners.  
They kept running until they stopped to settle their breathes in the woods. Paul’s eye caught something that made his heart drop.

“Oh no oh no no no,” he muttered in horror, staring at a wanted poster of himself, stuck on the trunk of a tree.

“What’s the big deal, did they get your pretty face wrong?” One of the women teased as she lifted her mask in order to breathe properly.

“Easy for you to talk, you don’t have a Zoey wanted poster!” Paul answered, stressed from both fear and anger.  
“And neither does Nora! This is not fair. If you had to make me do that again you could at the very least let me hide my face like you two.”  
Zoey showed how much she cared by ignoring what Paul just said and starting to climb up one of the trees.

“You know we need the guards to have a face to go after,” Nora replied with some patience in her voice, “this is how we always did it.”

“Well, this is not always,” Paul said and folded his arms.

“Yes, it is,” Zoey said from her place in the treetop, “They’re coming.”  
She jumped back to the earth, Paul yanked the wanted poster and put it in Zoey’s bag, and the three resumed running away.  
Zoey ran, and Nora ran, and Paul ran, and this time he heard the sound of horses galloping so he knew that if he slows down he will get caught and thrown back into jail.  
The three reached a barrier of high ground with no plants around to climb on.

“We climb on Paul then we drag him up?” Zoey suggested.

“Vice versa,” Nora replied.

“What?” Paul said immediately. He did not like either option.  
Zoey took the crown from his hand and put her in her bag.

“In case he tries anything,” she explained to Nora.  
Paul frowned. What kind of thing would he try? What kind of thing would he try…  
Paul felt sorry as he placed his feet on Nora and Zoey’s palms and shoulders in order to climb over the barrier.  
He felt even more sorry as he got away without helping the two over the barrier.  
The sorry feeling was mixed with fear as he heard the women shout toward him angrily once they realized the leather bag with the crown inside of it was no longer with them,  
and Paul realized he just added himself two more people to run away from.

***

The head of the guard shouted orders at the others, showing his authority to those below him, but he knew that the true leader of the mission was the horse he was riding.  
It was a fierce and formidable horse, and due to his courage and personality he felt like a lion, an eagle, a human all at once, despite being, of course, a horse.  
There was no wonder that he got the name he did: General McNamara.

General McNamara was loyal, but his wild ways made it difficult to stay on him, therefore only the head of the guard could ride him.  
But when he got too deep in the thrill of chase, even the head of the guard could be thrown off,  
and this is why in the middle of the chase General McNamara found out that he was running alone.  
He did not let this stop him, though. He spotted the criminal, whose scent of fear seemed to subside once he realized the chaser so close to him was not a man.  
Determined to change this, General McNamara neighed and pounced toward the criminal, trying to catch the bag with the stolen item with his teeth.  
The criminal let out an unpleasant human shriek and crawled away.  
General McNamara neighed again and chased the criminal to the edge of a cliff, where he had no way of getting away.  
But the criminal, either out of boldness or clumsiness, fell off the cliff.  
After a moment or two of standing surprised, General McNamara leaped after the criminal, but the human already gain advantage of him, and he could not spot his scent.

***

Paul rose up in a puddle of mud and with an awful pain in his head. What just happened to him was a dream or hallucination, it must have been.  
There was no way in this reality that he was chased by a way-too-smart golden horse who had a tiny clock tied above one of his front hooves.  
But it didn’t matter. Paul had to find a proper place to hide in. Fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zoey, Nora and Paul are an unlikely trio, but what do you think? Hopefully I'll add another chapter soon. I hope you enjoyed!


	4. The Song of the Father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hidgens sings his famous song, with a twist or two. Then a certain guy who does not like musical is knocked unconscious by a certain princess who is using a certain improvised weapon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I was quick this time! I hope you enjoy this fast product. The song here is based on Show Stopping Number, then an improvised part instead of Working Boys, then the Show Stopping Number chorus+ two lines from Mother Knows Best. The lyrics are inspired by Mother Knows Best with differences that fit the line length, the characters and the plot, plus a joke @atty-goldstein came up with on our Tumblr brainstorming. (Don't forget that the ideas aren't entirely mine! a great part of them are thanks to atty-goldstein)

Emma groaned again as Hidgens hurried down to the piano.

 _I can just avoid this performance, right?_ She asked herself.

But avoiding listening to Hidgens also meant avoiding being heard by him, so Emma followed the chance that she could reason with Hidgens after, maybe during, she dared hope, the song.

On her way down, Peanuts ditched her in order to go find some nuts or whatever.

When Emma approached alone the lower room with the piano, Hidgens was already sitting in a ridiculous pose in front of it.

He straightened himself a little and started playing.

“ _It’s… the…_ ” he began singing slowly, emphasizing each word.

_Song of the father/ One way or another_

_I’ll teach you Father knows best, I swear_

_Something will happen/ if you will dare come out_

_Of this good safe tower, beware!_

His fingers danced on the piano as he sang, stressing words, broadcasting his voice and using theatrical face expressions.

_The outside world is nothing but poison and strangers_

_Some mud, evil people and flu_

_You don’t know the dangers/ That’s why Father’s singing for you_

“You know, mud and stuff doesn’t sound that bad,” Emma commented quickly, using the pause between two verses.  
“Maybe-“ But Hidgens interrupted her by singing:

_The song of the father/ This song is reminding_

_That mortals would not love you at all_

_Your magic is special/ your blue hair is blinding_

_And outside it will make you fall_

_These mortals, they will sell you/ or burn you or rape you_

_Or they will take your magic away_

_And even if I help you/ I don’t know if I can keep you okay_

“Come on, you’ve been in the outside world for all your long as fuck life,” Emma argued, “You can keep me okay just fine.”  
It was a relief that he let her finish her sentence, but of course Hidgens was going to argue back through singing.  
He stood up to dance, but the piano played by itself a somewhat different music.  
Emma didn’t mind, things like that happened sometimes.

_Let us say I let you take the risk/ and there will really be no harm_

_This taste of world would tempt you/ You’d be captive in its charm_

_Time after time you would run free_

_And you would be all right until you wouldn’t be_

_Remember, if you die/ Then so would I_

Hidgens drifted away for a moment.  
“Hey,” Emma called in order to get him back to the Earth.  
He was back concentrated, but didn’t exactly sing- it was more similar to reading out loud a theatrical text:

_One day, dozens and hundreds of years from now the world will be a better place, mortals will tolerate magic, fear it no more, it will be peaceful and friendly and funny-_  
_and advanced! And there would be a superhuman assistance named Alexa, and the working boys will be once more…_

“The working whos?” Emma asked with WTF face, but Hidgen drifted away again, and this time he seemed to drift farther.  
His eyes looked up to the stars that were not there with longing.

 _And that is why I must keep us safe- so we live until this marvelous day_ , He said finally.  
Then he cleared his throat and resumed dancing and wiggling his hips as he sang the last chorus:

_So, the song of the father/ Is why we here gather_

_Convincing you to stay and survive_

_Just skip all this drama-_

“You’re always dramatic as fuck,” Emma interrupted him.

Hidgens’ face saddened for half a second, but he recovered quickly and carried on singing louder, with extra drama:

_-Just save you the trauma_

_Until a better time will arrive_

_Your magic is priceless/ I do not want you less alive._

“And Starlight Flower?” he added in a non-singing soft voice.  
Emma stepped closer to Hidgens and he held her shoulders. His eyes glinted bright blue.

“ _Do go out and spread our spores_ ,” we whispered in an emotionless tone of voice, very different from his usual one. “ _The apotheosis is upon us._ ”

Emma blinked. “What?” she replied, confused.

Hidgens’ eyes went back to his normal, dull-grayish shade of blue.

_Don’t forget it/ You’ll regret it_

_Father knows best_ , he finished.

Emma frowned. “What’s up with combining all these tunes and speeches into one song?” she asked.

“It’s called art, Emma,” was Hidgens’ response.

Emma rolled her eyes.  
Trying to convince him was obviously a waste of time, plus now he’ll be on guard for escape attempts.

“Oh, Fuck!” Hidgens called dramatically.

“What?” Emma asked without much interest.

“I forgot,” He answered after a sigh, “My stuff! All the things I intended on bringing. I came back here with a basket full of nothing!”

“You didn’t come here with a basket at all,” Emma pointed out.

“Oh, my,” Hidgens replied and sighed again. “Looks like I’ll be needing your assistance with going outside again. I am so terribly sorry, Emma.”

Emma escorted him to the top of the tower, looking at him suspiciously.  
When she used to try to escape a lot, there were times that Hidgens would say he needed to go away from the tower for silly reasons,  
seemingly giving her the perfect opportunity to go outside herself.  
It always turned out he was around to stop her. Emma did not intend to fall for it again.

As soon as Hidgens let go of her hair-rope and went away from the tower, Peanuts came back and joined Emma on her shoulder.  
She smiled at him and considered singing with him again, but she just sighed and went down to brew herself some coffee.  
Before she even filled the pot with water, she heard a voice from the outside and froze in her place. It did not sound like Hidgens.

“Hey! Is someone up there?”

Upon hearing the same voice again, the panic in Emma’s body finally allowed her to take action, and she grabbed the most weapon-looking object she could spot-  
a frying pan, and with the metal coffee pot in her other hand, she ran up to the top of the tower and looked down from the window,  
and just as she suspected, on the grass was standing a completely different person who was not Henry Hidgens.

Emma threw the frying pan at him with all her might, but the sneaky mortal dodged it.

“ **I will not miss the next one!** ” she promised out loud, hoping she sounded intimidating and not intimidated.  
It was hard to tell because of the distance, but it seemed from his body language that the mortal had the correct emotional reaction.

“No! Please!” He cried. “I didn’t come to harm, I need help!”

Emma grimaced.  
Hidgens told her a mortal’s voice would sound like his own or hers, yet unexplainably different, but it didn’t prepare her to the pure weirdness of someone else’s voice in real life.  
She decided to shut it down and threw the teapot toward the head of the mortal.

She was right- she did not miss this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was the chapter? Did I have any spelling or grammar mistakes? Let me know! (Edited) And one more thing! I added Horror and Unhappy Ending to the tags. It's not that I changed the plot- It's supposed to be like that, just wanted to be more clear with the warnings. I originally wanted to tag it horror comedy, but only found a tragedy/comedy tag, and thought that was enough, but changed my mind. For now it's pretty fulffy but it will get dark! Get away if you don't want this.


End file.
